Heat & dust and bus rides in India

JAIPUR: When Devapriya Roy and Saurav Jha were bored with their married life, they hit upon an 'insane' idea - they packed their bags and went out to write later a book on travel. And stretching their insanity bit further, they put on a budget embargo - Rs 500 a day for bed and board. And off they were on their 'transformational' journey. The duo acknowledged that if travelling in only buses for the book was hard, writing about it was harder.
Having their book opening at a city bookstore, the authors were in conversation with Mita Kapur of Siyahi and Malashri Lal, professor, Delhi University. Talking about their book, 'The heat and Dust Project', which has a huge portion dedicated to Rajasthan, the author duo was quick to clarify that the 'journey' was both within as well as without. The duo travelled from Delhi to Uttar Pradesh, Himachal, Rajasthan and Gujarat to complete the book. What they initially thought would be just a book, is now going to be a trilogy. The next part, the authors say is due in May next year.
When Malashri Lal asked them about the relationship the duo struck with the fellow young travellers, Roy narrated their experience of meeting Israeli twins, whom they bumped into often on their journey and documenting the twins' relationship in the book. Author Roy, a former model, said writing the book is "ultimate relationship test for both."
Still on relationship, Kapur broached the subject of fights between the authors, drawing guffaws from the motley audience. Both Jha and Roy though did not shy away from accepting about their 'fights' and how at times they were part of amusement for fellow bus travellers. On Kapur's query if the guest houses and places mentioned are all real and would another traveller trying to emulate the same route find them, Jha said they have changed names of some of the places to make few 'semi-shady' places look more interesting.
Everyone was in splits when they narrated anecdotes from their journey such as their 'encounter' at Paharganj guest house and their fight in Jaisalmer. Jha blamed it on their nerves after 3 months of travel at a stretch.